A hero is born
It was a hot,
muggy July day, in the lush mountains of Swat Valley, Pakistan. It was July 12,
1997. The day a world-wide hero was born. She is a hero who won’t stop fighting
until the end, a hero who is determined to win their battle.
Her parents, Thorpekai and Ziauddin Yousafzai, picked the name Malala. They named her after Malalai of Maiwand. Malalai of Maiwand was an afghan martyr, who died heroically in a brutal battle.
Her parents, Thorpekai and Ziauddin Yousafzai, picked the name Malala. They named her after Malalai of Maiwand. Malalai of Maiwand was an afghan martyr, who died heroically in a brutal battle.
Being a girl in Swat Valley
When Malala was a little girl she wasn’t able to walk around the village alone. She couldn’t walk around town without covering her face. Also she had to be with a male relative.
“Even if it was a five-year-old boy!” explained Malala.
Malala didn’t like these rules. She wanted to be able to walk around freely like the boys. She hated having to be hid away.
“Even if it was a five-year-old boy!” explained Malala.
Malala didn’t like these rules. She wanted to be able to walk around freely like the boys. She hated having to be hid away.
An early sense of justice
At an early age, Malala had a good sense of justice. So when she saw children living in a dumpster, she wrote a letter to god:
“Please, give me strength,” she pleaded, “I want to make this world perfect.”
“Please, give me strength,” she pleaded, “I want to make this world perfect.”
The take over
In 2007, something terrible took over Malala’s village. They called themselves the Taliban. They made it so no girl or young woman could go to school, and get an education. Malala thought this was so unfair.
The Taliban took the girls not going to school to the extreme. They started bombing schools: injuring teachers, students, and even passer-by’s.
This made Malala angry. She wanted all girls to get an equal education. She started fighting for equal education rights for girls. Malala started a blog at age 11.
The local Taliban radio show congratulated the girls who decided to drop out of school. But did that scare Malala?
NO!
She was brave and still went to school. Not many schools dared to stay open. But Malala’s dads’ all-girls’ school dared to stay open.
The Taliban took the girls not going to school to the extreme. They started bombing schools: injuring teachers, students, and even passer-by’s.
This made Malala angry. She wanted all girls to get an equal education. She started fighting for equal education rights for girls. Malala started a blog at age 11.
The local Taliban radio show congratulated the girls who decided to drop out of school. But did that scare Malala?
NO!
She was brave and still went to school. Not many schools dared to stay open. But Malala’s dads’ all-girls’ school dared to stay open.
Did you know?
Did you know that 32 million girls are out of school? Those are the girls that Malala is fighting to educate.
Image Credit: By Diogenes 013 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unportedlicense.